Sales of new electric vehicles double in Italy

Whether it is
for fashion or for ecological reasons, Italians are starting to embrace the
concept of sustainability in food and transportation.

According to
data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, annual sales of new electric
vehicles have doubled in Italy over the last four years. Between 2015 and 2017,
quarter-on-quarter growth was on average 14 percent. The numbers are in line
with the European average.

The main
automakers are going to launch new electric models between 2020 and 2021. In
October, Enel acquired California-based eMotorWerks, which supplies charging
stations and operates other distributed energy storage facilities. The
increasing demand for eco-mobility goes in fact hand in hand with the need for
charging stations. Rome-based Enel is going to invest between 100 million euros
and 300 million euros to install as many as 14,000 charging stations in Italy
by 2022.

The e-car
concept is becoming increasingly popular. On Saturday 14th April 2018, there
was the first fully-electric single-seater street race in Italy. All the action
took place in Rome, on the specially designed City circuit in the EUR
district.

Currently,
the countries leading the adoption of fuel-free cars are China, the US, and
Norway. Electric vehicles have surged in popularity especially in Norway, where
they make up for nearly one-third of all vehicles sold. Electric mobility is an
attractive offering to many conscientious consumers hoping to reduce the impact
of transport on the environment.

in 2017, more
than 287,000 passenger plug-in electric cars were sold in the European Union
and EFTA (Norway, Switzerland), Norway being in first place.

In 2017,
nearly one in 50 new passenger cars purchased in Europe were plug-ins. 70% of
all plug-in registrations were in the four largest markets in Europe: Norway;
Germany; UK; and France.

The recent
boom in e-cars in Europe might be due to the introduction of fiscal incentives
for fuel efficiency supported by the EU.

Tax measures
are an important tool in shaping consumer demand towards fuel-efficient cars,
and help create a market for breakthrough technologies, especially during the
introduction phase.

Incentives
for electrically-chargeable vehicles are now applied in many European
countries. The incentives mainly consist of tax reductions and exemptions, such
as in Austria or Germany, and bonus payments and premiums for the buyers of
electric vehicles in France and the UK.